MAC Help page

MAC user MUST HAVE's & HELP info

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QUESTION	ANSWER
How do I get Windows Media Player for MAC?	Windows media player is highly recommended for the best viewing of our website videos, and utilization of our music files. Even as a MAC user / fanatic myself, I'm not a big fan of QuickTime, especially where JFRocks content is concerned. Our music mp3 files will sound 100 times better, and our videos will play and look 100 times better in Media Player. Obviously you can use what ever you want to view stuff on the web, I'm simply making a suggestion based on what I know to be true as the designer and webmaster of this website. It's a 60/40 split among MAC users out on the MAC boards. About 40 percent or so of MAC users don't care for QuickTime, and we get many email complaints from MAC users about QuickTime with many asking me for advice on what they should use. I'm of the 40% or so that don't like QuickTime, (in fact I HATE IT) so I always suggest installing Windows Media Player for MAC to those folks that ask, and they usually email back with a HUGE thank you. Let me be very clear that I'm not a big Microsoft fan. But even I have to admit that Windows media player is an excellent media player. It's probably just about the only thing that Microsoft ever did really well in my opinion. With the exception of their media encoders, which are also really good. Please follow the link below to download "Windows media player for MAC", or get Windows media components for QuickTime: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/mac/default.aspx

How do I open one of your EXE files on my MAC?	EXE files are PC based and cannot be opened on a MAC without installing Windows via "Boot camp" or other proxy method. There are a few other alternatives listed in the links below, including an AWESOME piece of software called "Stuffit". In my opinion "Stuffit" is a MUST HAVE for MAC users because it allows you to have access to and utilize many PC based formats such as .exe and .zip right on your MAC. You can get it on a 30 day free trial. It really opens your MAC up to being able to do a lot more. Stuffit: Decompress a PC file on a MAC (I have this and I think it's great) http://shop.smithmicro.com/v2.0-img/operations/smicro/site/stuffit/std_mac.html Also see the Apple support forum: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5562353 Also see help strategies for opening an exe on a MAC: http://help.sitesell.com/mac-exe-files.html Ideally if you're a MAC owner you should be aware that with MAC some additional computer knowledge is needed to do most things. While in a lot of ways MAC is easier to use than PC, in other ways you kind of need to know your way around a computer to use one effectively, especially for multi-media and applications. It's still very much a PC world, and while MACs blow PC's away as far as reliability there are some things about a MAC that can be a bit "techie" for lack of a better word. People with PC's certainly have a much easier go of it here on *JFRocks.com* and around much of the web. To any MAC user I strongly suggest exploring the Apple support forum. It can be a wealth of knowledge. Many former PC users buy MACs because of TV ads or what not and don't realize that it's a whole other world from what they're used to. And I don't just mean the lack of computer crashes. I'm referring mostly to compatibility issues. It should be noted that many MAC users use a PC at least half the time. I'm included in that lot, and I've been a MAC user since the beginning of time.

Can I open a ZIP file on a MAC?	For ZIP files, you don't need any additional software; Mac OS X comes with tools to deal with ZIP files. Just double-click on a ZIP file in the Finder and it will expand.

If you're on an OLDER MAC OS and cannot view our videos, please read the text below

If you're a MAC user and cannot play our videos and get an error message that says, (The file name, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect) Don't panic this is a known issue and its all over the media player forum boards. It affects streaming and ripping of video or audio on MAC Media player.

What you need to do is save the videos to your hard drive in your Mac and play them from your computer. All of our site videos and CD ROMs are MAC compatible. I'm a MAC user I wouldn't do that to my fellow MAC users out there.

First off you cannot stream the videos from the site to your computer with MAC windows media player. You must save them to your computer and play them from your hard drive. But, there is no save as

So to save and play the site Videos on a MAC simply hold down the alt/option key when you click on the video and it saves it to the desk top. Then you can play it from there with no problem what so ever.

There's nothing in our video formatting that disallows Mac users from our videos, either here on the site or on our CD ROMs. All of our videos for the site and CD ROMs are tested on PC and MAC. There are many known MAC issues discussed at http://www.windows.com and also at the various MAC boards around the Web. Its all worth checking out if you're a MAC user. On many levels if you're going to use a MAC you need to be better than average at computers. It's not as universal or cut and dry as a PC, and for novice computer users I still to this day strongly suggest sticking with PC.

Legally we cannot provide technical support, and if you follow any of the links provided on this page and install software, you do so at your own choosing and risk. Not that there is much risk, I myself use Windows media player for MAC in my computer and the JFRocks videos and mp3 files CRANK just fine for me. Many MAC users prefer it as Windows media player is actually very good. It's one of the few things that Microsoft does right in my opinion. For some reason they managed to build a darn good media player. LOL

Kelly Ross
site admin